Amendment vs Repeal? Educate me, someone, please.

[beveeheart]

Yesterday I heard over and over from every Republican who could get her/his 2 cents in that the first thing Romney would do is repeal the ACA. Which made me wonder why it is that when soon-to-be-again Speaker Pelosi discusses Citizens United, she talks about an amendment to the Constitution. My understanding of amending the Constitution is that it is quite a bit more difficult and lengthy procedure.

[PoliticAverse]

1. The ACA is a law that was passed and found to be constitutional...

In the Citizens United case a law that was passed was found in part to be unconstitutional
(see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission ).

If you don't like a law that was passed (like the ACA) you can repeal it, but if you want to do something that
is unconstitutional you have to amend the constitution.

To amend the constitution see:
The Constitutional Amendment Process: http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/constitution/

[beveeheart]

3. Thanks for the explanation

and informative suggested sites. After reading them, I went on to search "repeal Obamacare" and found more proof of how committed the Repubs are to not doing any work toward bettering the lives of their fellow Americans.

[Igel]

2. Amendment, very hard. New legislation, not necessary.

Citizens United found that any law saying that corporations couldn't engage in political speech is counter to the Constitution's free-speech clause.

That means either the SCOTUS reverses itself or the Constitution has to be changed. Congress can't unilaterally change the Constitution. They may find ways of restricting free speech , limiting it, for corporations. But they can't preclude it, and it's hard to see exactly what any limitation would do. (Unilaterially changing the Constitution is SCOTUS' job, as they redefine terms and extend or restrict what a clause could apply to. The text doesn't change, but the meaning does.)


SCOTUS found the ACA constitutional. But the ACA is just law. If you want the law to go away, SCOTUS won't do it. Simple repeal would. (Or you can amend it to neuter it. Either way, it's just legislation.)